Microbial quality of ground poultry meat.

Abstract Deboned poultry meat has potential in many further processed food products. The microbial quality was studied in relation to inherent microbial load and its behavior under conditions to simulate commercial use. Observations were made on both hand and mechanically deboned product, which showed total microbial counts of 100,000–1,000,000 and a coliform count of 10–1,000 per gram. There was considerable breadth in kinds of bacteria with Bacillus sp. accounting for the greatest percentage. Microorganisms in frozen product were similar to fresh product and remained essentially stable during storage for seven weeks. Ground poultry product stored at 5°C. showed little change in microbial quality for approximately two days, but the microbial load increased thereafter to the point of indicating organoleptic spoilage in approximately four days. Total microbial load, nature of the microflora, and the proteolytic activity of the contaminants indicated the challgenge of microbial spoilage was similar to red meat products with no apparent unique microbial quality problems.